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Tuesday, November 27, 2012

A Mackerel Sky

Altocumulus clouds are commonly called a Mackerel Sky in GriggsDakota.

Do the little bumps of white with blue beyond make you feel as if you are at the bottom of the lake looking up at a school of mackerel?

There is not much else to look at, so I will answer my own question. Yes, indeed, I am on the bottom of the lake.

There are mackerel swimming above me. They are moving fast to get away from the cold weather that will surely follow this sky. Altocumulus clouds signal a weather change. This time of year, on a beautiful day, it means colder.

Mackerel Sky reminds me of Huso, which is actually a sturgeon. The Huso Sturgeon produces buttery Caviar. I have never tasted the caviar, but it is near and dear to my heart. It has the same name that I was born with.

When my great, great grandfather got off the boat from Norway with his brothers, they decided their name should be Huso. It was the district in Norway from which they came, I am told. If not for that stroke of good fortune we would probably still be called Oddson.

The Mackerel Sky just might carry a Huso Sturgeon or two as the weather changes in GriggsDakota.